Kegon Summary
nishio: I think I understand the concept of "[Kegon (sect of Buddhism)", so I will try to explain it to verify my understanding. First of all, this "Hua Yan" is not only about "Avatamska sutra" but also Hua Yan philosophy, which was developed from the Hua Yan Sutra born in India and entered China. nishio: The difference is that the Kegon Sutra described a process in the world W1 that is different from the material world W0, whereas the Kegon philosophy considered the process of going from W0 to W1, gaining awareness there, and then returning further to W W0 and then return to W0. nishio: With respect to this material world W0, things are either "there" or "not there". What "is" continues to be for a while, then breaks down and becomes "not," and when it is gone, it remains "not" forever. This is the view of the world that we, who were born and raised in the material world, have unconsciously, naive physics. On the other hand, the Kegon Sutra doubted it.
nishio: Both the Indian-derived Hua Yan Sutra and the ancient Chinese Zhuangzi had in common the idea that it is not a dichotomy of being and not being. From this comes the thought about what is beyond the opposition of "is" and "is not. nishio: In addition, this "what is beyond the opposition of being and not being" is not "what happens if we assume such a thing" but "I saw such a thing when I was meditating and I became it". I saw such a thing when I was meditating and I became it" rather than "what happens if I assume such a thing". nishio: I've been using easy words to describe "there is" and "there is not", but then when I say "there is something beyond the conflict between "there is" and "there is not"", the second "there is I should split "there is" a little higher resolution because the "there is" is confusing because of the "there is". There is "immaterial entity" that transcends the opposition between "material existence" and "non-existence of matter." nishio: As for this "immaterial existence", we moderns may be disappointed and say, "Oh, you were discussing it in such difficult terms, but are you talking about something like that?" In their time, there were not even black-and-white projectors, let alone VR goggles (a fairly new invention around 1900). nishio: To go back a bit and talk a bit more about the physical laws of the material world, a "material being" cannot have more than one thing in the same place because it occupies space. There can only be one material being, so if more than one person wants it, they will fight over it. This is the naive worldview of those born and raised in the material world. nishio: How did you feel "immaterial existence" in the age without VR goggles, first of all, you probably "saw a very realistic image created by your brain". When you think about it, it makes sense to do "posture, breath, don't think, and ignore all stimuli from the outside world" as a means to see it. You are creating an immersive environment. nishio: So, people who repeatedly "do a full dive into the VR space created by their own brains" in the days when there was no TV, realize that "this thing that appears and disappears and exists in the same position They realize, "This thing that appears and disappears in the same position, looks a lot like a material existence, but it is something else. Then they think, "Then what is this?" Then they think, "Then what is this? nishio: After thinking about it, "There exists a Something "reason" that transcends the conflict between material existence and non-existence, and a part of it is manifested in this way. And then I realize, "I am a part of it." I realize that I am a part of it. This is where monotheism differs greatly from the idea of monotheism. In monotheism, the transcendent personality "God" who creates the world makes human beings, so God and human beings are separate, but in monotheism
nishio: In the Buddhist view, a transcendent being without personality branches off and appears as all things, including oneself, so naturally one considers oneself to be part of the transcendent being. nishio: So, those who are convinced by experience that everything and everyone, including themselves, is just a temporary manifestation of a split "reason", what next? What will they think about next? I believe that everything is fundamentally connected as one, and that I am included in this "everything".
nishio: Then, just as you see a butterfly and have an image in your mind that "there is a butterfly", the butterfly sees a human and "there is a human". Just as I have a butterfly in the VR space in my mind, I am in the VR space in the butterfly. When we focus on one thing, that thing has other things in it. And every thing can be its subject.
nishio: here it gets related to "Butterfly Dreams". I had a very realistic VR immersive experience in a dream, where I experienced the world from a butterfly's first-person perspective and felt like I was a butterfly completely, but when I woke up from the dream, I was a human. Was the human dreaming of a butterfly, or was the butterfly dreaming of a butterfly that was so real that it felt like it was a human? This is a story about nishio: So, this is indistinguishable, and there is no need to distinguish between humans and butterflies, since they are both just temporary manifestations of a split "reason" in the first place. nishio: So, after thinking this far, you come back to the material world, and you see two people A and B fighting over the ownership of one thing. You see that and think, "Ah, A and B are both rooted in the same being, but they fight because they don't understand that, and I wish everyone would take a full VR dive. nishio: then there are people who say things like "I'm afraid of dying". I look at them and say, "You think of yourself as something that exists materially, so you find special meaning in the end of that existence, even though it is only a temporary manifestation of reason. Wouldn't you be less afraid if you had the experience of becoming one with reason?" So I think. nishio: And so far, the idea was "let's all be zen" since there was no VR yet, but when VR full-dive becomes possible with the advancement of technology, anyone can easily generate, annihilate, and duplicate things, place them on top of each other, and become someone else's viewpoint. However, when VR full-dive becomes possible through technological advances, anyone can easily create and annihilate things, duplicate them, place them on top of each other, and put themselves in other people's perspectives, in other words, "Zen meditation experiences" will become possible lower cost through technology. nishio: the lower the cost, the more people will take that path, so the more people will reach enlightenment in the Huayan sense. Since they reach it without explicitly allocating costs to the practice of enlightenment, they become "enlightened" when they realize it. When the digital natives are enlightened, it will look ridiculous for the unenlightened old man to cling to material existence! >nishio: the 3D printer talk can be confusing if you're not careful. The boundary between the "world of reason" and the "world of things" doesn't match the boundary between "old nature" and "computational nature," but people are so quick to jump to simple dichotomies. An addendum on this: it is not that the VR space is a "world of reason". The old physical world and the virtual world on a computer are both "worlds of things" that humans perceive with their senses, but the natural laws of these worlds are different, so it is easier to imagine the "world of reason" when experiencing the virtual world.
nishio: that when using a 3D printer, the two arrows "reason -> thing" and "digital existence -> physical existence" are occurring at the same time, which may easily confuse the reader. thing. ---
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